Ex MoFo Secretary's Suit Claims Associate Threatened To Use An Uzi Over Lost Fax

We've stressed a million times how important it is to be kind to
staffers.

A female associate threatening to bring an automatic weapon to
the office and use it over a lost fax would not fall under kind
treatment of staff.

But such an alleged event at Morrison & Foerster's San
Francisco office was the first in a series of events that a
former secretary claims lead to her being selected to be laid
off. The woman, Aileen Martinez filed a lawsuit in California
state court at the end of January against the firm and associate
Mimi Yang.

Martinez was with MoFo for 28 years, lost her job when the firm
cut
53 lawyers and 148 staff members in January 2009. MoFo was
among many firms who made large attorney and staff cuts in 2009
and stated at the time that the layoffs were in response to the
faltering economy.

Martinez's suit claims, however, that she was target for the
lay-off because she had taken a medical leave following an event
at the office in January of 2008 when Yang "threatened to bring
an 'Uzi' to work and 'kill' people." Martinez claims she suffered
extreme stress because she had been working in a building years
earlier when an office shooting occurred.

The suit also claims that a supervisor (also named as a
defendant) downplayed Martinez's illness and that many of those
laid off at the same time as Martinez were mostly over 40, of
Asian or Pacific Island decent and, had some form of disability
or were on medical leave.

Yang, via her attorney, declined to comment to
The Legal Pad, whose report on the suit, with a copy of the
complaint, are here.

We've reached out to MoFo and will update with their response as
soon as we have it.